Ring in the New Year with creativity! Take a classic and reinvent it for a New Year refresh. Make ham cups to hold cooked black-eyed peas. Take a standard muffin cup pan, and spray each cup in the pan with non-stick spray. Insert and press a thinly sliced sandwich cut ham into each of the muffin cups. Bake the slices of ham, in the cupcake pan, for 20 minutes. This will form and set the shape of the ham cups. Then, fill each of the ham cups with cooked black-eyed peas, when ready to serve. Other alternatives to rejuvenate 2022’s New Year’s meal include offering Brussels Sprouts instead of cabbage. Eggs Benedict is a favorite but try omelets or seafood crepes to kick start 2022. Our New Year’s Brunch, this year, will offer a variety of multi-colored fruit parfaits for dessert vs. the ornate heavy sugar concepts from December’s indulgence. Another one of my favorites is to create a garden floral-scape on the surface of cornbread, prior to baking. Essentially, the cornbread become your “canvas” to utilize sliced vegetables and herbs to arrange in the shape of flowers and a conceptual garden delight. Once baked, the design is set into the bread. This picturesque presentation will invigorate and inspire a grand kick start to 2022 and this will inspire your family to keep the spark of creativity lit for all to enjoy! © Kelly McBride Loft